Taser use in schools should be closely watched — and openly debated

Michelle Gabel/The Post-Standard, 2004 A TASER USED by the Syracuse Police Department. The superintendent of schools in Mobile County, Ala., recommended to his board this summer that security officers in the schools be equipped with Tasers. He argued that since the officers were banned from carrying handguns, packing Tasers would help them deal with potentially dangerous situations.

The school board, concerned that in some cases security guards might use the weapons too readily and that controversy and lawsuits could result, rejected the idea.

In Syracuse, no such public deliberations occurred. Most residents learned that police officers were carrying Tasers in schools after one was used on a student late last month. The issue had been discussed by the school board’s policy committee this summer, but was never mentioned in a full board meeting. Officials at the four high schools did inform students of the change on the first day of school, board President Kim Rohadfox-Ceaser said.

In actuality, the school board didn’t have much say in the matter. Syracuse police explained to the district that its officers would carry Tasers, and that was that. Police Chief Gary Miguel says Tasers are now a part of officers’ standard equipment, and if the schools want the officers, they get the Tasers.

Not all superintendents like that arrangement. In North Syracuse, where Onondaga County sheriff’s deputies carry Tasers in the high school, Superintendent Jerome Melvin says he would prefer they did not, citing the potential for injury. Syracuse Superintendent Dan Lowengard has not gone that far, but he says he is concerned and watchful as the policy rolls out in city high schools.

For others, it’s a no-brainer. In schools like Syracuse, where officers have carried guns for a long time, what is the harm in adding Tasers? But it’s not a simple question. While guns are clearly the option of last resort, Tasers are not. Lowengard says he is surprised and concerned that they already have been used three times in city schools.

That Tasers can sometimes be used too readily was made apparent this summer, when video emerged of a sheriff’s deputy using the device on a woman during a traffic stop in Salina. That in rare circumstances people have died after being Tasered has been shown a number of times across the country — including an incident in Clay last year.

Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh argues that Tasers have greatly reduced injuries to deputies and to the people they arrest, and that they are “less intrusive” than other weapons carried by officers, like pepper spray, nightsticks and batons. Syracuse Chief Miguel has assured the city school board that officers are thoroughly trained in their use.

To his credit, Lowengard promises that every use of a Taser will be reviewed by police and district officials, and that the policy will be revisited as the school year progresses. He should aggressively follow through on that pledge, and report his findings to parents and other city residents, who, after all, should have a say in what goes on in their schools.